Great Kills veteran Sal Purpora confirms that war is ‘hell’

Salvatore Purpora, a U.S. Army veteran from Great Kills, at the Korean War Memorial in Washington, D.C.which he visited for the first time in the past year.
PHOTO COURTESY OF CHRIS FERRERIAfter fighting in the trenches during the Korean War; says memorial to the troops in Washington, D.C. is a fitting depiction

That was only one description of his stint in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, where soldiers trapped along the 38th Parallel went three weeks without a shower, monitored enemy troops day and night, and were forced to withstand cat-sized rats carrying hemorrhagic fever.

“It was constant. We went out on maybe two to three patrols per week,” the Great Kills veteran recalled. “The rest of the week we stayed in the trenches on alert. It was Hell.”

Purpora was 18 when he entered the war. He arrived as a private in Company E of the First Battalion in the 23rd Infantry Regiment of the Second Infantry Division. During his time in Korea, which he said ended in October 1953, the machine gunner jumped two ranks, being promoted to staff sergeant due to heavy casualties.

On the Brooklyn native’s first day in combat, Purpora said he met a British radio operator who had enlisted in the Army. The man was shot and killed later that night, leaving Purpora to fulfill his vow not to leave any man behind.

He was left to go out and carry his buddy’s body back to the trenches.

“I carried him for about six hours. Couldn’t get anybody to help me,” said Purpora. “I lost my weapon walking through the rice paddies, crawling, falling down.”

For time served in the war, Purpora earned three battle stars, a Bronze Star and a Commendation Medal.

Last summer, at 76 years old, Purpora traveled with his three daughters, a granddaughter, and son-in-law to Washington, D.C., to visit the Korean War Veterans Memorial for the first time.

His son-in-law Chris Ferreri arranged with Rep. Michael McMahon (D-Staten Island/Brooklyn) to arrange for a private tour for Purpora and the rest of his family.

“It’s one thing to see it through your kid’s eyes, and another thing to see it through someone’s eyes who’s fought in a war,” Ferreri said. “He went right back to when he was 18 years old in Korea.”

“It was a great memory going to Washington and seeing this,” the retired Army staff sergeant said. “It brings back so many memories. It really does.”

Purpora said the memorial was a mirror image of what his platoon looked like.

“In this particular patrol that’s simulated there in Washington, it shows the gunner – meaning me – yelling to the assistant gunner who’s carrying the ammo and the tripod, which is the truth.”

Purpora hopes to have his wife, Antoinette, join him on a trip to the Capitol next time.

“It was so heartwarming and very emotional for us,” said his daughter, 53-year-old Donna Ferreri. “I’ve always been proud of my dad, but never so proud when I took him to Washington and saw how much it meant to him.”